Friday, 7 June 2013

Kenyans celebrate as UK pays compensation (Mau Mau Revolt)

Between 1952 and 1960 a violent revolution took place in Kenya. It involved a Kikuyu-dominated anti-colonial group called Mau Mau. The conflict generally known as the Mau Mau Uprising or Mau Mau Revolt.

Britain’s decision to compensate thousands of Kenyans who were
tortured during an anti-colonial uprising in the 1950s is important
because it re-writes the history books, Wambuga Nyingi said.
"I’m okay with
the settlement, even if it’s not much," he told Al Jazeera during an
interview at his home in Kenya’s central highlands.
"The most
important thing for me is that they have acknowledged that we were not
rebels - we were freedom fighters. That’s what matters."

According
to the Kenya Human Rights Commission, as many as 90,000 Kenyans were
killed or tortured and 160,000 more were forced into concentration camps
during eight years of mayhem and bloodshed during the 1950s.
On
Thursday, Britain announced an out-of-court settlement of about $30.5m.
It will be split between 5,200 victims, leaving about $4,100 per
claimant in a country where the average person earns just $821 a year.
Making
a landmark apology before Britain’s parliament, Foreign Secretary
William Hague expressed regret over "abhorrent violations of human
dignity" that took place more than half a century ago.
"The
British government recognises that Kenyans were subject to torture and
other forms of ill-treatment at the hands of the colonial
administration," he said, adding it "sincerely regrets that these abuses
took place and that they marred Kenya’s progress towards independence."Milestone
Martyn
Day, from the law firm Leigh Day, which represents the 5,200 Kenyan
torture victims, welcomed the payout and an agreement to fund
construction of a memorial in Kenya dedicated to those who suffered.
"This
case has been a long, hard struggle for justice; taking four years and
two court defeats for the government before they finally agreed to treat
these victims of torture with the dignity they deserve," he said.
This case has been a long, hard struggle for justice; taking four years and two court defeats for the government
Martyn Day, lawyer
Dozens
of veterans from the Kenyan uprising, mostly octogenarians, gathered at
a hotel in downtown Nairobi to sing, chant and listen to speeches from
the lawyers and activists who secured the legal win.
But it was
not without controversy. Angry Kenyans used social networking sites to
complain that the sum was insultingly low. Others said they suffered
during the 1950s but were not among the beneficiaries.
Paul Muite,
a lawyer for the Mau Mau veterans, said the victory was a milestone in
establishing a system of justice that extends beyond national borders.
"If
we are going to end impunity around the globe, each nation, each
person, must acknowledge their wrongdoing," he said. "It doesn’t become
any less wrongdoing because it was very widespread. That’s a price that
they’ve got to pay."Tortured
Nyingi was a
25-year-old activist when he was captured and tortured by colonial
forces during the Mau Mau uprising at the end of the British Empire. He
was beaten unconscious and dangled by his ankles during almost a decade
behind bars.
Abuses against Nyingi and thousands of others
occurred during the Kenyan Revolt of 1952-60, when fighters from the
nationalist Mau Mau movement attacked white settlers in an effort to
regain land and end colonial rule.
The renegades were mostly made
up of Kikuyus, Kenya’s main ethnic group, who wore their hair in
dreadlocks and launched raids from the forests of central Kenya.
Attacks
alarmed white settlers and British officials almost 7,000km away in
Whitehall. British forces and their Kenyan allies responded with a
brutal crackdown of detentions and torture that eventually suppressed
the guerrillas.
While the British government viewed the rebels as
terrorists, Kenya now sees them as freedom fighters in a liberation
struggle. A bronze statue of Dedan Kimathi, the "former freedom fighter
and Kenya hero" who led the Mau Mau, was unveiled in Nairobi in 2007.
Nyingi
joined two other victims - Paulo Muoka Nzili and Jane Muthoni Mara - to
launch a High Court test case against the British government for the
torture and sexual mutilation they suffered under colonial rule.
Lawyers
said that Nyingi was severely beaten, Nzili was castrated and Mara was
sexually abused in detention camps during the rebellion. A fourth
claimant, Susan Ngondi, has died since proceedings began.Legal technicalities
London
challenged the case, initially claiming that liability for torture by
the colonial authorities was transferred to Kenya upon independence in
1963. It later claimed the actions were brought outside the legal time
limit.
Elderly torture victims accused Britain of using legal
technicalities to fight the case. The Nobel laureate, Archbishop Desmond
Tutu, spoke up for the Kenyans, calling on Britain to show victims the
"dignity they deserve".
In October last year, the court ruled the
victims had established a proper case and allowed their claims to
proceed to trial despite the time elapsed. Lawyers for the Kenyans
pressed for trial while also pushing the government for an out-of-court
settlement.
Proceedings were closely watched by others who lived
and suffered under British rule in India, Malaysia, Cyprus and other
former parts of the vast empire. Cases have already been filed seeking
reparations for colonial-era abuses.
Daniel Branch, an Africa
expert at Warwick University, said there were "exceptional features" to
Kenya’s case, including well-documented evidence, compelling expert
witnesses and support from Kenya’s government and rights groups.
"It
is unclear whether cases in places like Malaysia, Cyprus and Ghana will
have the same level of support, the same level of evidence and an
overwhelming case that has to be acknowledged," he said. "But it does
raise very serious questions about the extent of violence during the
final years of empire."